Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin ~ Book 1

chapter 54

Saturday, 10 September 1977

"What are you three doing?" Marlene said as she entered her girlfriend's dorm.

Ava, Maggie, and Lena were side by side each other against the wall with Maggie in the middle. They were upside down, using their hands and their bedroom wall for support. Their faces couldn't be seen as their hair formed curtains around their faces.

"Handstand contest," Ava said simply. "Which I intend on winning."

"But you're all against the wall. I'm pretty sure a handstand has to be freestanding," Marlene pointed out.

"It's the only way we can do handstands," Maggie said with a nod. "It's a deep shame of ours."

"And how long will the contest go on for?" Marlene said. She laid on her stomach on the floor in front of Ava. She pushed the hair out of Ava's face and kissed her nose.

"Until one of those two loses," Ava said with a grin.

"Or all the blood rushes to Lena's head," Maggie said.

"Or it can end now if you seduce and distract Ava, Marlene," Lena pointed out.

Marlene tilted her head and pretended to think. "I'm in favor of option three."

Marlene went in to kiss Ava. "Oh no, you don't!," Ava stopped her. "I want to win this! Last time we did this, Maggie cheated and I lost!"

"And I'll cheat and win again!" Maggie declared. Maggie bumped her hip against Lena's, causing her to topple over onto the ground. Lena pouted and Marlene patted her head. "There, there, Lena."

Ava decided to employ a similar tactic and bumped Maggie. However, at the same time, Maggie decided to bump Ava. The force caused them to fall on the ground. Ava propped herself up on her elbows. "Who fell first?"

Lena shrugged and looked at Marlene. "Don't look at me," the Gryffindor said, holding her hands up.

Maggie and Ava looked at each other and nodded. "Rematch."

"You can do your rematch later. Right now I want some quality time with my girlfriend," Marlene said.

Ava grinned and wrapped her arms around Marlene's waist and kissed her just underneath the jaw. "You heard the lady. Leave."

Maggie scoffed jokingly. "Well, then."

"So rude," Lena said with a laugh.

"I mean, who do they think they are? My parents?"

"No, your parents are much nicer."

"Ha ha. You two are hilarious, but you can go now," Ava said.

"Let's go, Mags. We know when we're not wanted," Lena said teasingly.

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Wednesday, 21 September 1977

Lena yawned. As much as she liked Potions, Professor Slughorn, and spending time with Regulus, she did not like classes at eight in the morning. It didn't help that she hadn't slept well the night before because of her cold that resulted in a stuffy nose and a splitting headache.

"Alright, class. Today you will all be making Amortentia. Don't feel too bad if you aren't successful. It's a difficult potion to brew," Professor Slughorn announced.

Regulus went up to collect their ingredients while Lena opened up her textbook for them to use.

"I know it's pretty early on in the school year, but I think Potter's doing a pretty good job as Head Boy," Regulus said once he returned to their shared table. "He's being rather fair about things. He's not picking on Slytherins or acting power-crazy, ya know."

Lena nodded and thought about Remus as she added the drops of untouched morning dew into their cauldron. "James is a good bloke. Besides, he knows how important Head Boy is and that it's an honor to have. A lot of people want it."

"I don't want it," Regulus said before kindly correcting Lena. She had misread the nine as the six. "And you need to add three more drops to the potion."

"You don't? And thanks," Lena said.

"Yeah. Way too much work and I wouldn't get to spend as much time with my friend," Regulus said as he plucked leaves off the lovage for Lena to grind.

"Ah. James sees it as a plus. He gets to spend more time with Lily and impress her."

"And how's that working out for him?" Regulus said as he stirred to potion, turning it blue.

"All right, actually," Lena said with the tilt of her head. "Lily hasn't gotten annoyed with him yet and she seems mildly impressed with him and his newfound sense of responsibility."

Regulus looked down at the textbook. "That was the last step so I guess we're done. Ladies first," he said, gesturing to their cauldron.

Lena leaned over the cauldron and sniffed it. She furrowed her brow and looked at her friend.

"I can't smell a thing. Oh my god, what if I can't smell anything because I'm unable to love."

Regulus rolled his eyes. "You definitely love things. And you probably just can't smell it because of your cold."

Regulus sniffed the Amortentia and frowned. "Nevermind. I don't smell anything either."

Lena and Regulus whipped their heads around as they felt a hand on each of their shoulders. Slughorn was standing behind them. "What a shame, Mr. Black, Miss. Pettigrew. It's alright, though. No one else got either."

Lena sighed. She really had wanted to know what she would smell. She had her suspicions, but she had just wanted to know.

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Tuesday, 27 September 1977

"Do you want me to come with you tonight?" Lena asked in between kisses as she sat on her boyfriend's bed.

"I'd rather keep kissing you than talk about tonight," Remus said against her lips.

Lena pulled away slightly and leaned her forehead against his. "So, that's a no."

"Aren't you clever," Remus said before tilting his head to kiss her once more.

"You can always change your mind," Lena softly mumbled against his lips.

"That's true, but I won't," Remus said as he moved his lips down to Lena's jaw and neck. Tangling her fingers into her boyfriend's hair, Lena let out a moan and tilted her head back.

"We'll see about that," Lena said, kissing him more firmly.

The couple was much too engrossed in each other to notice the door creaking open.

"If you don't want to traumatize Peter, I'd stop snogging each other right about now," Sirius said with a smirk as he leaned on the doorway. Peter stood behind him and he had a mortified expression on his face that Lena had seen once before when they had walked on their grandmother changing into her bathing suit.

Lena pulled away and fixed her hair to make herself look slightly more presentable. Remus grumbled. Lena laughed and pecked his cheek. "Apologies, brother dearest."

"You don't mean that one bit, do you?" Peter said as he flopped on his bed.

"Oh, not all. I find snogging Remus much too enjoyable to feel bad about it," Lena said with a nod. Remus bobbed his head happily.

"Can we please talk about something else besides... this?" Peter bemoaned.

"Yeah, I guess we'll spare you," Remus said.